Deb Polzin-Rosenberg

Before graduating from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) with a Master’s in Architecture in 2015, Deb had a career in nursing, so she naturally brings to her work a commitment to creating healthy spaces – for human wellbeing, for communities, and for the environment. “The spaces we inhabit – where we work, live, and come together as community – can either bring out our best or our worst as human beings and are the backdrop to our most memorable life events. Architects have a responsibility to design spaces that inspire, that bring us together, and that help people be the best versions of ourselves.”

Before Deb joined us in 2018, she had worked for MASS Design Group in Rwanda where her contributions included healthcare, university, and agricultural design in Rwanda and East Africa. This experience fed her special interest in the ways different cultures approach the design of spaces for childbirth and enabled her to lead a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to explore the impact of design on clinical decision-making in US healthcare settings. She can count to 19 and exchange pleasantries in Kinyarwanda. She also developed a fondness for brochettes.

She lives on Peaks Island with her husband and two children and commutes to Kaplan Thompson by ferry every day. While on the island Deb enjoys reading homesteader nonfiction, practicing the mandolin, making functional pottery, preparing and drinking coffee, watching documentaries, biking, and digging in the yard (which is not yet a garden).